Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is a first-person shooter video game in the Counter-Strike series. It was announced to the public on August 12, 2011, and developed by Valve Corporation and their partner, Hidden Path Entertainment. The game was later released on August 21, 2012 for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, and OS X, as a downloadable title.

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Overview

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is the fourth Counter-Strike series developed by Valve Corporation and Hidden Path Entertainment that was announced on August 12, 2011 and released on August 21, 2012 at $14.99.

About

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) will expand upon the team-based action gameplay that it pioneered when it was launched 12 years ago.

CS: GO features new maps, characters, and weapons and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, CS: GO will introduce new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leader boards, and more.

"Counter-Strike took the gaming industry by surprise when the unlikely MOD became the most played online PC action game in the world almost immediately after its release in August 1999," said Doug Lombardi at Valve. "For the past 12 years, it has continued to be one of the most-played games in the world, headline competitive gaming tournaments and selling over 25 million units worldwide across the franchise. CS: GO promises to expand on CS' award-winning gameplay and deliver it to gamers on the PC as well as the next gen consoles and the Mac".

Development

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive began as a port of Counter-Strike: Source to the Xbox 360 by Hidden Path Entertainment. Valve saw the opportunity and decided to expand the game since Counter-Strike was their least updated franchise at the time.

Jess Cliffe confirmed the name on the official Steam forums on August 11, 2011, while Valve confirmed it in an official announcement on August 12, 2011.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is designed on the latest version of the Source engine, and is not built off Counter-Strike: Source. Valve developed the game to be both casual and competitive, including both a matchmaking system as well as support for dedicated servers.

Valve announced that the beta would begin in October, but they later delayed it due to feedback from VIP players. The closed beta started on November 30, 2011. Starting August 14, 2012, the beta was open to everyone who had pre-ordered the game.

Weapons

There are a lot of new weapons in Global Offensive, and there will be several changes to returning weapons, such as firepower, rate of fire, accuracy, and movement rate. As confirmed in gameplay videos, silencers will also be available. Weapons in bold are new weapons that never appeared in a previous game. Weapons in italic are weapons that replace guns that appeared in the previous games.

Machine guns

Equipment

Kevlar costs money in Competitive mode, while it is free in Casual mode.

The defuse kit was no longer purchasable in early betas. It is randomly given to two Counter-Terrorist at the start of the round. In Casual mode, every Counter-Terrorist will automatically be given the Defusal Kit.

An alternative fire has been added for grenades. Players can now throw a grenade within a very short distance and these grenades can set off faster.

A new automatic pistol, the CZ75 Auto, has been added, replacing the FN57 if equipped.

The scope mechanics of the AUG and SG 553 have been changed. Instead of zooming in the player's vision like the older games, the user of these weapons will have a magnified view by looking at the rear of the scope.

Maps

In total, Global Offensive has 16 official maps. The game contains 8 updated classic maps which are available in Casual and Competitive mode:

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive did not arrive on the PAL version of PlayStation Store on the offical release date, causing fans of the region to react with anger. Sony apologised for the delay and promised to solve the problem as soon as possible but failed to provide an explanation.

Counter Strike: Global Offensive is the only Counter Strike game to be rated 18+ by PEGI.

In the CS:GO icon, a CT can be seen holding a SCAR-H, a weapon that isn't in the game.

Unlike the other games in the Counter Strike series, the color of the Terrorist team in CS:GO seems to be a darker yellow with a bit of orange mixed into it, instead of red.